Busy,busy

Kate and family have only been here two days, but I'm tired already.  Not tired of them, just tired from following them around!  Yesterday, we did some shopping and then in the afternoon, went to a swim club where a long time friend of Kate's is a member.  It was a lovely pool, not at all crowded.  The weather was sunny, the water cool and the company fun.  I knew one of the girls and may have met the other, when they were in high school.  We were pretty tired after swimming, although I came home early and rested before dinner.  We had bought three beautiful T-bone steaks and planned to grill them outside.  However, the fire wasn't hot enough, so we ended up doing them in a cast iron pan on the stove.  (I didn't want to heat up the broiler, as it heats up the whole house!).  The steaks were delicious!  With them we had corn on the cob from a local farm.  Yum, yum.  After dinner, several of the family dozed off in the living room.  No, I wasn't one of them.  Sarah and I stayed awake until bedtime.

Today we went into DC to the National Museum of the American Indian.  It's a new museum - at least new to me.  Back when I was working for USDA, I watched them build that museum, but I had never been inside.  It's very impressive and well arranged.  There was far too much information to absorb in one visit, but I loved the displays of pottery, the gorgeous weavings and the wonderful masks.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get any decent photos.  Lighting was dim and the glass cases reflected the flash.  I did buy a book of postcards that show some of my favorite objects. 

We ate lunch at the museum cafe which featured native American dishes from a number of parts of North and South America.  The kids weren't very adventuresome and stuck to french fries and other standard food, but we adults tried all sorts of interesting items.  Everybody enjoyed the fry bread.

With impeccable timing, we left just as the rain was letting up.  Had only a few blocks to walk to the Metro.  Boy was that train crowded!  However, once we got away from the Mall, and on the train to bring us back to Maryland, we found seats with no problem.  I was really glad to sit down.  I haven't been walking for exercise much lately, and today we were on our feet for hours. 

Tomorrow, we are going to Splash Down - a water park in Manassas, VA.  Another busy day.  The water will be lovely, but I will probably not go down any of the big slides.  I've done that once (in England) and am not eager to repeat the experience.  Once was enough!  My favorite part of the park will probably be the Lazy River, where one sits on an inner tube and just goes with the flow! That's my kind of water fun.